The Orthodox Network: Linking Us Closer to The Church
Linking Us Closer to the Church
I am pleased by the efforts of our National Senior ACRY to reach out
to the members of our ACRY and Diocesan family through the digital
media of the Orthodox Network.
The Orthodox Network section of our new Diocesan Website will keep
help link the members of the ACRY closer together. As time goes on,
this section will be utilized to share ideas and information regarding
the activities of the National ACRY andin particular on the local
chapter level.
The very word network implies a linking or bonding together of
ideas, efforts and people into a coherent whole. In being part of a
network, we strengthen one another and build new relationships.
In particular the Orthodox Network, has a great potential to help
foster a deeper familial and spiritual relationship within the National
ACRY, the diocese and the larger family of Holy Orthodoxy. It is my
hope and prayer that this print and digital network will help
strengthen our commitment to growth in the spiritual life and in our
active participation in the Life of the Church which has been given to
us by our Lord as a Spiritual Hospital.
The grave difficulty we face today is that our Orthodox Christian
Faith is much more than a religion, it is a Way of Life. It is
difficult to be an Orthodox Christian today because our culture does
not support our faith . As a result, we who struggle to be faithful
Orthodox Christians feel torn between two worlds: the spiritual and the
so called real world. When we are true to our Orthodox Faith, we can
often experience isolation and loneliness when we must chose Christ
over the ways of the world.
This struggle is not something new, as we remember that our Lord
during His Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane prayed for His disciples
who were in the world, but not of the world. This reference is the key
to understanding what our position as Orthodox Christians ought to be
regarding this struggle. We are to be in the world but not of the
world. Indeed we must live in the world and are called to interact with
it because God made it and it is essentially holy. By living our faith
to its fullest, we are called in our own way to reclaim the holiness of
the world for God. We are called to interact in the world in a positive
way, but must never become secular and give in to immorality and the
ways of the world. We must also never bow to the altar of political
correctness.
Our struggle as parents, grandparents, godparents, teachers,
readers, sub-deacons, deacons, priests, bishops, patriarchs and
everyday Christians is to strike up a proper balance between the
spiritual and material worlds, and prioritize our lives. There is not
one of us who can't say that our schedules are crazy, and on occasion,
we are on the edge of sanity at the end of the day. In the course of
everyday life, all of us, and especially those young families with
school age children, find ourselves running non-stop to meet all of our
seemingly non-stop work, school, social and extracurricular
obligations. With the dawn of the information age and the many
technological advances that we have at our disposal, instead of life
being easier, this technology has made our lives more difficult by
enabling us to accomplish more in less time.
This struggle taking place day after day, can and does make us
physically and spiritually ill. The danger of our over-scheduled lives
is that our soul, which longs for communion with God and spiritual
endeavors is starved. We then experience guilt when our spiritual lives
suffer, as often we are too busy and tired to pray and can't make it as
often as we should to Church services. As a result we can become
restless, bored, depressed and anxious.
In experiencing this tension, our natural response is to relieve
ourselves of this stress. We do so by planning relaxing activities and
vacations which are very necessary. Yet, even when we engage in these
activities, we often do not find satisfaction. The reason is that our
souls are thirsting for the living waters of Godliness, which are found
in the life of the Church. Our souls, being created in the image and
likeness of God, will never be satisfied until they experience the deep
communion with God that Adam and Eve knew in Paradise before the Fall.
We live with the consequences of the Fall, that of sickness, struggle,
pain, suffering and death, which were not something that Adam and Eve
were intended to experience. The spiritual unrest we so often
experience is the result of our soul's inner desire to attain spiritual
equilibrium. It is the mission of the Church to teach us how to restore
that balance and heal our wounded souls and ailing bodies.
The Church, being a spiritual hospital, is the place where we can
find treatment for the spiritual, emotional and physical consequences
of our over-stressed lives in today's fast-paced world. If we wish to
find relief from our ailments, it is essential that we understand the
nature of the Church as being a therapeutic center, and the various
spiritual disciplines of the Orthodox Tradition as being spiritual
medicine. When viewed in this manner, we gain a great appreciation for
the meaning and power of fasting, praying and participating in the
sacramental and liturgical life of the Church. For example, instead of
viewing fasting as an annoyance or inconvenience, when understood as
part of a therapeutic regiment, fasting can then become a means of
restoring balance by teaching us how to say no to food and by
extension, un-necessary activities and obligations. The Divine Liturgy
and other services of the Church when understood as helping us Lay
Aside All Earthly Cares,(the stress of daily life) and building up our
spiritual stamina, take on much greater meaning. The ultimate Medicine
of Immortality the Holy Eucharist which, when received after being
spiritually prepared, brings us into a deeper relationship with Our
Lord, enabling us to echo the words of St. Paul, It is no longer I who
live but Christ who lives within me.
The ultimate challenge, then, is for all of us to recognize that we
are spiritually, physically and emotionally ill, and turn to the Church
for help. In order to begin the healing process we must seek out a
physician, who is none other than our parish priest, for a spiritual
examination (Holy Confession). Having become aware of and confessed our
spiritual struggles, we can then receive guidance from our Father
Confessor on how to more effectively integrate the spiritual
disciplines (medicines) of prayer, fasting and participation in the
sacramental life of the Church, into our daily lives.
Once we understand the true nature of the Church and Her ability to
help us navigate the stormy seas of daily life, we can see how
important it is for us to stay close to the Church, to support it and
to immerse ourselves in her life. To do so, we need to reach out to
like-minded Orthodox Christians for support. When we realize that we
are not alone in our struggle, we can find the strength to be true to
our Orthodox Faith.
May we as members of the ACRY do all that we can to support one
another and especially our youth and young families. I encourage you to
utilize the Orthodox Network to do just that. Read the articles that
are posted, send in your prayer requests, and remember in your own
prayers those who've asked for your prayers.
Linked together in the bond of love, united in our common faith and
life within the Church, may we move Forever Forward and Heavenward.
Very Rev. Peter Paproski,
National Senior ACRY Spiritual Advisor
